What is certain is that lizards have formed an important part of New Zealand’s animal life over the last tens of millions of years. They are integral to ecosystem processes, pollinating native plants and dispersing native plant seeds through eating fruit. Palaeoecologist, Trevor Worthy, is sure that New Zealand was once as alive with reptiles as it was with birds: “If you go to predator-free islands like Breaksea and Maud, in places there’s a skink every 20 cm or so, and there’s no reason to think that much of the mainland wouldn’t once have been the same. Of course, there would have been bird predators, such as weka, takahe, falcons and owls, but these would never have been in the same densities as rodents are today,” says Worthy(1).

​

Our temperate climate has meant our lizards have evolved some globally strange traits. Most of the world’s lizards give birth to eggs, but all bar one of New Zealand’s geckos and skinks give birth to live young. This sole New Zealand egg bearer is called, funnily enough, the egg-laying skink, and is found only in the far north. Giving birth to live young is likely to have developed as a way to cope with cooler temperatures. The lizards still produce eggs to nourish the developing young, but these eggs are retained inside the female’s body until ready to hatch. This means the mother can have some control over the temperature of the eggs when outside temperatures may drop too low for the eggs to survive on their own.  

Lizards have had to adapt to our cold winters. Although they don’t go into true hibernation, most  lizards will have a period of lower activity in winter. Typically they will seek out nooks and crannies where temperatures stay more mild, and will retreat deep into rock fissures, underground burrows, or dense ground level vegetation. They will eat much less often. However on fine days they will still come out to sun bask.